Does anyone else think the media needs to move on from the Seaworld story?

[mickeylove2]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here, if this had been a pit bull everyone would be calling for it to be put down, but a whale? 1 eye witness says that the whale grabbed her and shook her violently then held her under and she died, so we come up with excuses to not blame the whale? This woman was drowning while help was right there and all they would do was try and distract him away from her, makes no sense- if a woman is being attacked by a dog and responders get there, the 1st thing they do is beat the dog off of her or shot it. Why was he not tranquilized so they could possibly save her? The animal needs to be euthanized immediately! Just MHO

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here, if this had been a pit bull everyone would be calling for it to be put down, but a whale? 1 eye witness says that the whale grabbed her and shook her violently then held her under and she died, so we come up with excuses to not blame the whale? This woman was drowning while help was right there and all they would do was try and distract him away from her, makes no sense- if a woman is being attacked by a dog and responders get there, the 1st thing they do is beat the dog off of her or shot it. Why was he not tranquilized so they could possibly save her? The animal needs to be euthanized immediately! Just MHO

The biggest difference is that this whale can live a normal life in captivity without coming into direct contact with people again. Not so for a pet dog.

However, it should never be put in a position to hurt another human being...

 

[Wishing on a star]

1 eye witness says that the whale grabbed her and shook her violently then held her under and she died, so we come up with excuses to not blame the whale?

I know!!!

Just incredible...

A 'beloved' whale (even a freakin' KILLER whale) could never purpusefully end a life.

I don't know whether to go or or

 

[PeterPan09]

The biggest difference is that this whale can live a normal life in captivity without coming into direct contact with people again. Not so for a pet dog.

However, it should never be put in a position to hurt another human being...

What he said.

I would love it if we could do something with dogs that attack people other than putting them down.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Good Lord, it just get's worse....

So, the poor wonderful innocent animal is better off living it's entire life in a cage/pen/tank with no contact????

 

[Jennasis]

First of all, it JUST happened YESTERDAY. It's still fresh in everyone's mind. If this gets dragged on to another week or two, then maybe you will have reason to complain.

Remember the tiger that killed the two kids on Christmas eve at the zoo? The kids were taunting the tiger and it jumped out of the enclosure. STory went on FOR-EV-ER. My take is that the tiger was acting like a tiger and the kids and the zoo were to blame.

WHY do these animals have to be in captivity? Tillikum wasn't born into slavery at SeaWorld. he was caught in the wild and forced to be the dancing monkey, or bear on a unicycle at some aquatic dog and pony show.

They won;'t (and shouldn't) euthanize him, according to the SeWorld rep on the news this morning.

You hang out with wild animals and then act surpised when the animal acts wild??? i don't get it.

 

[luvmy3]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here, if this had been a pit bull everyone would be calling for it to be put down, but a whale? 1 eye witness says that the whale grabbed her and shook her violently then held her under and she died, so we come up with excuses to not blame the whale? This woman was drowning while help was right there and all they would do was try and distract him away from her, makes no sense- if a woman is being attacked by a dog and responders get there, the 1st thing they do is beat the dog off of her or shot it. Why was he not tranquilized so they could possibly save her? The animal needs to be euthanized immediately! Just MHO

No, you can certainly blame the whale for the death, but you can't blame it for acting on its instinct. Humans are so arrogant to think that we can take these animals and turn them into trained monkeys (pardon the pun). They are wild animals, and being in a tank at Sea World does not change that.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Good Lord, it just get's worse....

So, the poor wonderful innocent animal is better off living it's entire life in a cage/pen/tank with no contact????

LOL - Do you always look down your nose at opinions that differ from yours?

 

[mickeylove2]

The biggest difference is that this whale can live a normal life in captivity without coming into direct contact with people again. Not so for a pet dog.

However, it should never be put in a position to hurt another human being...

Oh, believe me, dogs are penned up with pretty much no human contact all the time- just look at puppy mills. And people cry outrage at that. What's the difference with this whale??? Keep him penned up to use as a stud with no human contact? Same thing if you think about it. And from my understanding, he WAS to have NO human contact (I could be wrong though), yet the trainer was killed. And she didn't fall into the tank, he leapt out of the water and grabbed her with his mouth, he is, after all, 22 ft long. So what do you suppose, the staff at Seaworld should just hurl his food into his tank from 15 feet away? He will always have close contact with humans, the vet who does his check ups, the staff that has to transport him to where ever he would need to go, his feedings, come on- makes no sense to say he could be held in captivity without human contact.

 

[Jennasis]

Oh, believe me, dogs are penned up with pretty much no human contact all the time- just look at puppy mills. And people cry outrage at that. What's the difference with this whale??? Keep him penned up to use as a stud with no human contact? Same thing if you think about it. And from my understanding, he WAS to have NO human contact (I could be wrong though), yet the trainer was killed. And she didn't fall into the tank, he leapt out of the water and grabbed her with his mouth, he is, after all, 22 ft long. So what do you suppose, the staff at Seaworld should just hurl his food into his tank from 15 feet away? He will always have close contact with humans, the vet who does his check ups, the staff that has to transport him to where ever he would need to go, his feedings, come on- makes no sense to say he could be held in captivity without human contact.

Actually I could give two craps if he ever saw another human again. But he NEEDS the company of other whales...a pod.

 

[lawsonsontour]

It hasn't even been 24 hours, if they're still going a week from now I'll agree with you.

i agree....24 hours of a story as big as this is nothing at all. what about people that may not have been able to catch the news till now or the fact that they really haven't got to the bottom of what actually happened yet.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Oh, believe me, dogs are penned up with pretty much no human contact all the time- just look at puppy mills. And people cry outrage at that.

As they should. A life worse than death.

What's the difference with this whale??? Keep him penned up to use as a stud with no human contact? Same thing if you think about it. And from my understanding, he WAS to have NO human contact (I could be wrong though), yet the trainer was killed.

I don't mean no contact as in no interaction - I mean no physical contact. Big difference. Whales do not need human contact.

And she didn't fall into the tank, he leapt out of the water and grabbed her with his mouth, he is, after all, 22 ft long. So what do you suppose, the staff at Seaworld should just hurl his food into his tank from 15 feet away? He will always have close contact with humans, the vet who does his check ups, the staff that has to transport him to where ever he would need to go, his feedings, come on- makes no sense to say he could be held in captivity without human contact.

There have been many versions of the story, but none of the officials have indicated that this happened. So far, only one witness reported this. The other witnesses all say that she fell into the tank.

 

[RadioNate]

As they should. A life worse than death.I don't mean no contact as in no interaction - I mean no physical contact. Big difference. Whales do not need human contact.There have been many versions of the story, but none of the officials have indicated that this happened. So far, only one witness reported this. The other witnesses all say that she fell into the tank.

Chuck Tompkins, the head of animal training for Sea World confirmed last night that the whale pulled her into the water.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Chuck Tompkins, the head of animal training for Sea World confirmed last night that the whale pulled her into the water.

Okay, that would change my opinion considerably. I have not read that...

 

[RadioNate]

Okay, that would change my opinion considerably. I have not read that...

http://www.wesh.com/entertainment/22667184/detail.html

and there is video of him talking about what happened. I don't know if it is on the WESH website but I've seen it.

There IS video of the incident. I have not watched it and can't point you to it but I assume that Sea World officials, including Mr Tompkins have seen it.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

http://www.wesh.com/entertainment/22667184/detail.html

and there is video of him talking about what happened. I don't know if it is on the WESH website but I've seen it.

There IS video of the incident. I have not watched it and can't point you to it but I assume that Sea World officials, including Mr Tompkins have seen it.

Yeah, I just tracked down a link on my own and that certainly changes my opinion. Given the fact that the whale pulled her into the water, it needs to either be released back into the wild or put down.

JMO...

 

[XTinabell]

First of all, it JUST happened YESTERDAY. It's still fresh in everyone's mind. If this gets dragged on to another week or two, then maybe you will have reason to complain.

Remember the tiger that killed the two kids on Christmas eve at the zoo? The kids were taunting the tiger and it jumped out of the enclosure. STory went on FOR-EV-ER. My take is that the tiger was acting like a tiger and the kids and the zoo were to blame.

WHY do these animals have to be in captivity? Tillikum wasn't born into slavery at SeaWorld. he was caught in the wild and forced to be the dancing monkey, or bear on a unicycle at some aquatic dog and pony show.

They won;'t (and shouldn't) euthanize him, according to the SeWorld rep on the news this morning.

You hang out with wild animals and then act surpised when the animal acts wild??? i don't get it.

The bolded part is what I have been wondering about. Was this whale born in captivity or not? You say not, and I'm horribly saddened to hear that. I think it's so sad that we capture these amazing creatures, as some have said, for our entertainment. At least the animals that are born in captivity don't know any different. If this animal truly was captured from the wild, he is in no way to blame. The mammal should be released in my opinion, certainly not killed for behaving on instincts.

Having said that, even if he were born in captivity I don't think the animal can be classified as a murderer. It's not a human, it's an instinctual being. I say they should send him back to the wild, let things be as they're naturally meant to be.

 

[RadioNate]

I'll cross post but Dawn Brancheau's autopsy has been released.

Cause of death is listed as multiple traumatic injuries and drowning.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22671270/detail.html

 

[mickeylove2]

As they should. A life worse than death.

My point exactly...keeping him penned up just to wait for him to breed then die?!?!?! It wouldn't be right, just like the victims of puppy mills.

I don't mean no contact as in no interaction - I mean no physical contact. Big difference. Whales do not need human contact.

Like I said, from what I've heard he wasn't supposed to have contact with humans, it's not like she was swimming in HIS tank and he was playing with her. The way it's described, she was on the catwalk and he grabbed her.
There have been many versions of the story, but none of the officials have indicated that this happened. So far, only one witness reported this. The other witnesses all say that she fell into the tank.

Initially it was 1 witness AND 1 trainer that gave the same version, and the SW spokespeople were saying that she slipped. Now they are saying he did indeed pull her in, as you have seen from other posts. I've also heard that there is video, I wonder when that will be aired?

 

[DWGal210]

First of all, it JUST happened YESTERDAY. It's still fresh in everyone's mind. If this gets dragged on to another week or two, then maybe you will have reason to complain.

Remember the tiger that killed the two kids on Christmas eve at the zoo? The kids were taunting the tiger and it jumped out of the enclosure. STory went on FOR-EV-ER. My take is that the tiger was acting like a tiger and the kids and the zoo were to blame.

WHY do these animals have to be in captivity? Tillikum wasn't born into slavery at SeaWorld. he was caught in the wild and forced to be the dancing monkey, or bear on a unicycle at some aquatic dog and pony show.

They won;'t (and shouldn't) euthanize him, according to the SeWorld rep on the news this morning.

You hang out with wild animals and then act surpised when the animal acts wild??? i don't get it.[/QUOTE]

My thoughts exactly.

I remember when the Sigfried/Roy incident happened and months later I saw a comedy routine by Chris Rock and I think he hit the nail on the head. He said something along the lines of, "That tiger didn't go crazy - that tiger went tiger!" The point is the same as Jennasis - these are wild animals with instincts. We will probably never know what goes on in their minds, and even though it's incredibly tragic for that poor woman and her family, I don't feel it should be a catastrophic shock when an animal acts as his instincts tell him to do.